Resources

Data sources

A guide to the primary data sources used in research and reporting on Brazilian favelas. Each entry describes what the source provides, how to access it, and notes on methodology or known limitations.

Federal: IBGE

Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). The Brazilian national statistics agency. The principal favela-relevant products are:

• Censo Demográfico (decennial census, most recently 2022) with the Aglomerados Subnormais module identifying and characterizing informal settlements. Includes population, demographic, housing, and service-access data.
• Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua (PNAD Contínua), a continuous household survey providing quarterly and annual data on employment, income, and household characteristics; does not separately identify aglomerados subnormais in published tables, but provides metropolitan-area context.
• Aglomerados Subnormais — Classificação Preliminar (2019, used during COVID-19 surveillance) and similar interim products.

Access through ibge.gov.br. Methodological notes: the 2010 to 2022 change reflects substantial methodological revision in addition to real change; direct year-on-year comparison should be approached carefully. Civic-society organizations including Data_Labe and the Observatório de Favelas argue that official counts undercount favela populations.

Federal: IPEA

Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA). Federal applied-economics research body. Provides analytical work and data on a range of favela-relevant indicators including the Atlas da Violência (with the Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública), the Atlas do Desenvolvimento Humano no Brasil, and recurring work on urban and housing policy. Access through ipea.gov.br.

Federal: DATASUS and Ministério da Saúde

Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade (SIM) and related health-administrative datasets. Provide geocoded mortality data including cause of death, allowing analysis of homicide and violence-related mortality by neighborhood. Access through datasus.saude.gov.br.

State-level: Rio de Janeiro Instituto de Segurança Pública

Instituto de Segurança Pública (ISP-RJ). The official Rio de Janeiro state public-security statistics body. Provides monthly and annual statistics on lethal violence, robberies, drug seizures, and related indicators, including data on police operations and on lethal incidents involving police. The principal authoritative source for Rio public-security data. Access through isp.rj.gov.br.

Municipal: Instituto Pereira Passos (Rio)

Instituto Pereira Passos (IPP). The city of Rio de Janeiro's data and planning body. Maintains the Sistema de Assentamentos de Baixa Renda (SABREN) database of Rio favelas, with detailed cartographic and demographic data. Provides the Painel Rio data portal. Access through ipp.rio.

Municipal: São Paulo housing data

Habisp / Secretaria Municipal de Habitação. The city of São Paulo's housing-data system, maintaining inventories of favelas, loteamentos irregulares, and cortiços. Access through habisp.inf.br and habitacao.prefeitura.sp.gov.br.

Civic research organizations

Data Favela / Instituto Locomotiva. A collaboration between CUFA and the Locomotiva polling institute producing recurring surveys on favela demographic and consumer characteristics. Widely cited but methodologically less transparent than IBGE; figures should be read as Locomotiva-produced estimates rather than as official statistics.

Data_Labe. Maré-based data-journalism initiative producing reporting and data on favela conditions. Access through datalabe.org.

Observatório de Favelas. Maré-based research and communication organization producing studies on multiple favela-related topics. Access through observatoriodefavelas.org.br.

Redes da Maré. Produces the Boletim Direito à Segurança Pública na Maré, the principal community-rooted source on public-security indicators in the Complexo da Maré. Access through redesdamare.org.br.

Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública. Non-governmental organization producing the annual Anuário Brasileiro de Segurança Pública, the principal national synthesis of state-level public-security statistics. Access through forumseguranca.org.br.

Comissão de Direitos Humanos (CDDH) and Defensoria Pública offices. State-level human-rights commissions and public-defenders' offices produce reports on specific cases of policy violence, removal, and rights violations. Particularly substantive in Rio de Janeiro.

International

UN-Habitat. The UN agency on human settlements maintains comparative data on informal settlements globally. The Brazilian data are based principally on IBGE figures.

Inter-American Development Bank. Substantial project documentation and evaluations of urban-upgrading programs in Brazilian favelas, including the original Favela-Bairro program.

Notes on methodology

Different sources answer different questions. IBGE provides the official statistical picture and is the basis for most quantitative comparison; civic-research sources fill specific gaps and provide more granular community-level data. For most analytical purposes, the combination of IBGE official data with civic-research data is appropriate. Reading a single source as definitive is generally not.